The development of a perceived satiety index for military rations

Studies were conducted to index the perceived satiety value of a variety of military ration items, to assess the relationship of the food's nutrient composition, physical, and sensory properties to satiety, and to determine the ability of the sum of the satiety indices for individual meal components to predict total meal satiety. Equicaloric 300 kcal portions of 17 common military ration items and two commercial food items were tested. Satiety measures were obtained before consumption, immediately after consumption and every 15 min thereafter for 1 h. Ratings of acceptability and sensory attributes (sweet, salty, chewy, moist, dense, fatty/oily/creamy) were also obtained. The area under the 75-min response curve (AUC) was used to quantify the overall satiety responses to each item. A satiety index (SI) was calculated by dividing the mean AUC for each food item by the mean AUC for a reference food. Significant differences were found in perceived satiety among the nineteen food items. The mean AUC was greatest for oatmeal, which was 4.78 times higher than the lowest AUC. A stepwise regression analysis was used to examine the relationship of individual food characteristics (macronutrient content, weight in grams, and volume), initial satiety level, sensory attributes, and liking to overall satiety. The obtained model revealed four variables that contributed significantly to perceived satiety: initial satiety, fat and protein content, and the perception of fatty/oily/creamy. Higher initial satiety (fullness) and higher fat content were associated with lower perceived satiety, while higher protein content and higher fatty/oily/creamy ratings were associated with greater satiety. A regression analysis to determine whether the sum of individual item satiety scores (AUCs), adjusted for serving size, could be used to predict the overall satiety of a meal resulted in a predictive equation with an R2Adj of 0.54. The intercept of the equation was close to zero and the slope (0.69) was interpreted as representing a correction factor for the diminishing growth of perceived satiety as a function of increasing kilocalories. Overall, the data show that it is possible to index the perceived satiety value of individual ration components and meals, and that by developing a better understanding of the influence of the nutrient composition, physical, and sensory properties of a food on perceived satiety, it may be possible to develop or select ration components that produce lower levels of perceived satiety and which, in turn, may lead to increased consumption under field conditions.